Search and rescue teams to test out drones in Riverside County

As the population in Riverside County grows so does the number of search and rescue calls to the Sheriff's Department.

In the past month alone there have been numerous rescues making the news.

On Tuesday, March 29, ABC 7 aired a story on a 20-year-old hiker who went missing in cold, snowy conditions near Mount San Jacinto. He was reunited with his family but not before spending a dangerous http://abc7.com/1268309/ night alone in the wilderness.

On the weekend of February 28, the RCSD were sent out to rescue hikers in the Cleveland National Forest multiple times within hours of eachother.

On March, 8 two hikers were stuck at a cliff in Massacre Canyon and had run out of daylight. The couple was air lifted out of a tight area near water falls.

On March 4, a team from Riverside Mountain Unit and park rangers joined the RCSD at Snow Creek to assist in a search for a missing alpine climber attempting the north face of Mt. San Jacinto. Two more hikers were stranded on March 5, in Corona also needing rescued off 50' tall cliff.

The RMRU is a group of volunteers trained and ready to respond to wilderness emergencies.

The list of SAR efforts in Riverside County is lengthy. According to annual reports the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department responds to 150 to 170 SAR related incidents.

In an effort to improve public safety, the RCSD has been researching for a few years the concept of utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) for SAR operations. UAVs have proven helpful in lifesaving efforts during California fires and Colorado flooding incidents.

The RCSD has entered into a test agreement with Sentera LLC (Minnesota) to use their Phoenix aircraft style Unmanned Aerial System during a one – year, no cost, evaluation period. Sentera personnel have extensive experience in the development and application of Unmanned Systems, focusing in the areas of agriculture and first responders. Sentera systems exceed all Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department regulations and requirements to be authorized for operation.

Government agencies are required to apply for and receive a Certificate of Authorization from the FAA prior to operating UAVs in pre-approved areas. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department applied for a Certificate, it was approved and is effective March 28, 2016.

The RCSD's use of UAVs will focus solely on SAR operations where a fixed wing UAV could be deployed quickly to supplement current aviation resources. UAVs may potentially result in quicker life-saving rescues due to their ability to rapidly help search for missing children, lost or injured hikers or people considered to be listed as “at-risk missing” because of a known medical condition.

The Sheriff supports exploring this resource in order to protect lives and is looking forward to this economical one year public-private test partnership with Sentera. It is hoped the use of the Sentera Phoenix will result in adding to the Department’s ability to direct critical life-saving resources towards saving lives during SAR operations, while also providing a significant cost savings for taxpayers.

If you plan to hike the RMRU created this form for you to fill out and leave with a friend and in your car. The website does not keep your form in their database and does not trigger a SAR.

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